Republic of Mining

Cliffs hanging on, but waiting to reopen plants – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – Jan 27, 2016)

February 19, 2016

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Cliffs Natural Resources had a terrible 2015, losing money and slashing production, but the company expects demand for its taconite iron ore to tick up in 2016 and vows to reopen idled operations once sales increase.

Company officials Wednesday said both United Taconite in Eveleth and Forbes and Northshore Mining in Babbitt and Silver Bay will remain closed at least through March but will reopen “sometime this year” as demand from steelmakers for taconite increases.

Hundreds of laid-off workers at each plant are waiting to go back on the job.

“It’s too soon to give you a date, but it will be this year,” Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves told the News Tribune in a telephone interview Wednesday.

TRAINING: Partnership creates northern Ontario school of hard rock mining (Canadian Mining Journal – February 18, 2016)

February 19, 2016

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

TIMMINS, Ontario – Northern College, Haileybury School of Mines has a new initiative underway; the creation of a Northern School of Hard Rock Mining, offered in partnership with Glencore’s Kidd Operations. One of the first programs offered through the partnership will include a modular training program to individuals wanting to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to be an underground hard rock miner.

The underground hard rock miner Common Core program will be delivered at the 2400 training level at the Kidd mine site in Timmins and will cover the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) Underground Hard Rock Miner Program #770010. Training will consist of four mandatory Common Core modules, along with up to nine other modules.

“Our partnership with Kidd Operations allows us to provide, where applicable, both trainer and employer modular sign-offs in order for the participants to receive their Common Core modules as registered with MTCU Apprenticeship Branch Modular Training Division” says Christine Heavens, executive director, community, business development and employment services at Northern College.

Developing the ‘Sudbury [Mining] Advantage’ – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – February 19, 2016)

February 19, 2016

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Reza Moridi will attend an announcement Friday about the launch of a Laurentian University initiative to capitalize on what organizers are calling “the Sudbury Advantage.”

Laurentian Mining, Innovation and Technology is a single-access pathway to tap into the expertise in mining that abounds in Sudbury.

The umbrella organization will co-ordinate and promote research being done at MERC (Mining Exploration Research Centre), Vale Living with Lakes, CROSH (Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health) and MIRARCO Mining Innovation.

The initiative will advance Laurentian’s desire to become a global leader in mineral exploration, education, and mining research and education.

[Northern Ontario separation] Lots of talk about separation in many places but little action – by Lloyd Mack (Kenora Daiy Miner & News – February 11, 2016)

February 19, 2016

http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/

It is amazing the issues that transcend geographical boundaries and distance. Take for example dissatisfied constituents calling for separation from their current political body.

For example, in January, the prospect of Northern Ontario separatism was raised again by Trevor Holliday from Callander. Ontario. His frustrations of having to travel long distances to see a doctor and feeling unrepresented at Queen’s Park led him to push the idea to create the Province of Northern Ontario — which he defined as Algoma, Manitoulin & Kapaskasing, Kenora, Nickle Belt, Nipissing & Timiskaming, Parry Sound & Muskoka, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Rainy River, Thunder Bay Superior North and Timmins James Bay — in a change.org petition.

Holliday’s petition has gained 3,835 supporters since he initiated it Jan. 1.

Of course, this is not a new idea. It has recirculated several times since the early 1970s.

South Africa Wants `Black Champion’ to Fill Anglo Mines Void – by Andre Janse Van Vuuren and Michael Cohen (Bloomberg News – February 18, 2016)

February 19, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

As Anglo American Plc scales back its operations in South Africa, the government is coaxing black investors to fill the void in mining left by a conglomerate that once dominated industries from coal mining to paper, banking and sugar.

Mines Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said Anglo American’s announcement on Tuesday that it may exit its 69.7 percent stake in Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. could encourage the emergence of “new black economic empowerment champions.” The minister and his predecessor Ngoako Ramatlhodi have both called for the creation of a leading black-owned mining company.

The push for black citizens to increase their ownership of the mining industry, which once formed the bedrock of the economy, comes as South Africa grapples with addressing racial disparities that have persisted since the end of white minority rule in 1994.

Canada needs full inclusion of First Nations to kick start the economy – by Isadore Day (Canadian Mining Journal – February/March 2016)

February 20, 2016February 19, 2016

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Isadore Day is the Wiindawtegowinini, Assembly of First Nations, Regional Chief Ontario

Since the last PDAC convention, the relationship between Ontario, Canada and First Nations has improved dramatically. At the same time, the Canadian economy has continued to worsen.

The resource sector is struggling – diamond, gold and potash mines have either reduced production or closed; the price of oil has dropped dramatically; and the Canadian dollar continues to lose its value against major currencies.

As we wait for commodity prices to increase, now is the time to work towards fully implementing the First Nation elements of the Ontario Mining Act. Specifically, “Encourage prospecting, staking and exploration for the development of mineral resources, in a manner consistent with the recognition and affirmation of existing Aboriginal and treaty rights in Section 35 of the Constitution, 1982, including the duty to consult, and to minimize the impact of these activities on public health and safety of the environment.”

Gold at $1,500 is “very achievable”: Barrick president Kelvin Dushnisky (Business Network News – February 18, 2016)

February 19, 2016

http://www.bnn.ca/

The president of the world’s largest gold producer says the $1,500 per ounce call from a recent HSBC report is “very achievable,” as the precious metal enters the early stages of a new bull market.

“I think the fundamentals are really going to show support for the gold price,” said Barrick Gold Corp.’s (ABX.TO 0.00%) Kelvin Dushnisky in an interview with BNN.

Gold futures rallied Thursday as mounting concerns about the stability of global markets and low inflation tapered expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise its key lending rate in March.

UPDATE 3-Brazil’s Vale posts record iron ore, nickel output even as prices slump – by Jeb Blount (Reuters India – February 18, 2016)

February 19, 2016

http://in.reuters.com/

Feb 18 Brazilian miner Vale SA produced record amounts of iron ore, nickel, copper, cobalt and gold as it battled a slump in global metals prices by boosting output in search of greater market share.

Results, though, were below what some analysts expected even as they helped Vale, the world’s third-largest mining company, meet some of its own output targets.

Fourth-quarter iron ore production rose 2.4 percent year on year to 88.4 million tonnes, its largest ever fourth-quarter total, the company said on Thursday. Output was down 3 percent compared with the third quarter.

Alcoa Sees Record Aluminum Deficit Even as Goldman Predicts Glut – by Joe Deaux and Sonja Elmquist (Bloomberg News – January 27, 2016)

February 19, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Alcoa Inc., which is spinning off aluminum assets later this year, sees something that much of the market doesn’t: an end to the prolonged surplus that left prices near a six-year low.

With about half the world’s aluminum plants losing money, the U.S. company that invented the domestic industry more than a century ago says global demand will exceed production this year by a record 1.2 million metric tons, forcing car and appliance makers to draw down inventories. While others predict smaller deficits, many banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and producers like Norsk Hydro ASA say the glut will only get bigger.

Prices tumbled 19 percent last year, the most since 2008, and reduced output has been indicated in China, home to about half the world’s smelting capacity. But energy prices have kept plunging and the yuan is weakening.

Commodities’ well-traveled road to nowhere. Cutting output – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – February 16, 2016)

February 18, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, AUSTRALIA – Live and don’t learn. That should be the motto of commodity producers who attempt to push prices higher by trying a variety of methods to restrict supply.

While the call by major producers including Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze crude oil output at current levels is the headline of the week, it’s merely the latest in a long line of attempts to arrest sliding commodity prices.

In recent years various governments, producer bodies and even companies have tried to influence commodity markets in their favor, mostly with only very limited success.

Barrick Keeps Eye on Debt With New $2 Billion Reduction Target – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – February 18, 2016)

February 18, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. intends to keep debt in its crosshairs with a plan to cut at least $2 billion this year as the world’s largest producer of the metal seeks to shore up its balance sheet following three annual gold-price declines.

The miner reduced total debt by $3.1 billion last year to $10 billion through measures that included asset sales and cost cuts. In 2016, it may sell additional non-core assets and create new joint ventures and partnerships to help meet its new debt-reduction target, the Toronto-based company said Wednesday in a statement.

“In the medium term, we aim to reduce our debt to below $5 billion,” the company said in the statement. “Philosophically, our goal is to have no debt at all.”

Indigenous-run program training prisoners to work in the mining industry saves Western Australia Government millions – by Anthony Stewart (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – February 18, 2016)

February 18, 2016

http://www.abc.net.au/

At 34 years old, Aaron has just started working in his first ever full-time job, at a mine site near Perth. For the past 20 years he has drifted in and out of prison.

“I never ever worked before,” he says. “I’ve always just lived a life, getting into trouble with the law and then ending up back in the system.”

That all changed when he was placed in the Fairbridge Bindjareb project at Karnet Prison. The 16-week training scheme equips soon-to-be released prisoners with the skills they need to work in the mining industry.

The program is designed and run by local Aboriginal men, and Aaron says it is the first program that has treated him with respect.

UPDATE 1-Glencore to refinance its short-term debt early, shares rise – by Alasdair Reilly and Mamidipudi Soumithri (Reuters U.S. – February 18, 2016)

February 18, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Feb 17 Miner and trade house Glencore Plc has raised $8.4 billion in commitments as part of an early refinancing of its short-term debt, sending its shares up more than 10 percent on Wednesday.

Glencore’s net debt of about $30 billion – one of the highest levels in the sector – has come under scrutiny as multi-year prices for commodities such as copper and coal pressure its finances.

Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Glencore’s credit rating to one notch above “junk” in December.

“The market’s taken it well, it’s demonstrated that they are able to secure debt in this challenged environment,” Investec analyst Marc Elliott said.

A requiem for Anglo American, the octopus of South Africa – by John Gapper (Financial Times – February 18, 2016)

February 18, 2016

http://www.ft.com/

A corporate culture skilled at dominating apartheid nation was outmatched by global capital markets

It is a short walk from the imposing former headquarters of Anglo American at 44 Main Street, Johannesburg, to the small office in which Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo defied the authorities to set up a law partnership in 1952.

The moral is that the magnificence of a building is not a reliable guide to the enduring influence of those inside. Ernest Oppenheimer founded Anglo American in 1917 and laid the cornerstone of 44 Main Street in 1938. By the 1980s, his son Harry pulled the strings of several mining and financial conglomerates controlling 30 per cent of the country’s stock exchange.

Mandela and Tambo went on to lead the African National Congress and to transform the country. After Mandela became president, Anglo shifted its primary listing and head office to London in 1999. Julian Ogilvie Thompson, then executive chairman, celebrated “the end of the financial structures that were imposed on us by apartheid”.